Milford 55, Hopedale 27: Scarlet Hawks net third straight win

The Milford girls basketball team started the year with two consecutive losses, but appear to be finding a rhythm after a 55-27 non-league victory against neighboring Hopedale

By Kevin J. Stone/Daily News Correspondent

HOPEDALE — The Milford girls basketball team started the year with two consecutive losses, but appear to be finding a rhythm after a 55-27 non-league victory against neighboring Hopedale on Friday night.

The win was the third in a row for the Scarlet Hawks, moving their record to 3-2. Meanwhile, after winning just three games total in the past two years, Hopedale entered the game at Draper Gym 2-0 before falling to Milford.

"I don't think much has changed from those first two games, we've just played some good teams, sometimes you come out on top and sometimes you don't," said Milford coach TJ Dolliver. "We've been putting up points this year but it's been the defensive end where we struggled the first couple games and I think we've improved on that end and we played very well defensively tonight. The second quarter was the difference."

The second quarter Dolliver referenced would be one during which Milford shut out the Blue Raiders, outscoring Hopedale 18-0 to turn a 13-10 lead after the first quarter into a commanding 31-10 halftime lead.

Kate Irwin (15 points) hit a 3-pointer with 7:20 left in the half to put the Scarlet Hawks up 17-10. A Juliana Tracy 3-pointer with 5:25 to go made it 20-10 and an Irwin fast-break layup soon made it a 22-10 game.

Milford continued to step on the gas as an Irwin steal and fast-break layup pushed it to 26-10 with 3:32 to go and a layup off a turnover by Jess Tomaso made it 28-10. The Scarlet Hawks capped off the 18-point run in the quarter with 40 seconds left on a layup by Tracy, taking the 21-point lead into the break.

"We played some great teams our first two games and didn't really lose by that much, I think it's just been a matter of us getting into the swing of things over these past three games," said Irwin. "Our defense was what was hurting us in the beginning of the year, but the second quarter tonight might have been the best quarter we've played so far this season and we've just been connecting on our shots a lot more now too."

Following a bucket by Milford to open the third quarter Hopedale finally scored for the first time since 50 seconds remained in the first quarter on a put-back rebound by Meghan Holt. A pretty crossover move in the lane and finish by Hopedale's Bri Frongilo made it to 34-14 with 5:58 left in the third. Back-to-back layups by Irwin and Tomaso soon pushed the lead back up to 38-14 and a 3-pointer by Julie Rabinowitz made it 41-14 with 2:23 to go.

A layup by Maddie Laprado with 1:40 to play brought Hopedale within 41-17 but Milford carried a 45-19 advantage into the fourth quarter.

A 3-pointer by Kaitlynn Glombetti sparked a 5-0 run for the Blue Raiders to open the fourth, making it 45-24. Hopedale would ultimately play a much better quarter, but this night belonged to the Scarlet Hawks.

For Hopedale coach Corey Phillips, he's heard that this year's team looks better than teams from the recent past, but he's only focusing on tomorrow.

"I can't compare this year to past years because I wasn't here, and to be honest I don't care what it looked like in the past, but people keep telling me it looks like there's something there," Phillips said. "We're not at the point where we're forming habits yet. I still need to tell them things in order to see something come to fruition, and it takes time. But, I do see a team that's working extremely hard every single day and that's what we're going to keep doing.

"I've seen growth since day one, but the preseason is over for us now. We've only played three games and now we're going to go play 17 in a month, so we're growing and I'm excited to see where we can go from here.

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